Father Geek Reviews HALLOWEEN H20

Well here ya go folks, Father Geeks review of the flick. He's the man that introduced me to Carpenter's evil world, and who brought me up to know who played what werewolf in which flick, at a time when I shoulda been playing with an erector set, so Horror is one of his genres, one of many. Read on...

Greetings Fellow filmic travelers Father Geek here to tell all of you to ignore the negative reports on Halloween H2O and go see a really fun, jump out of your seat film. I enjoyed the hell out of this movie! I felt it had the right balance of tension, drama, laughs, and of course violence. Now I am over twice the age (maybe 3 times) of the targeted audience for this film, yet I loved it. I absolutely love the 1st two Halloweens, hell in some twisted sort of way I even like #3 as a sort of guilty pleasure. (although I don't really view it as a real "Halloween" film, just a film about Halloween, the holiday) I think Jamie Lee fuckin ROCKS in her role in this entry of the series. Her frantic, frenetic, guilt and angst ridden character is letter perfect for this motion picture and is totally in step with her roles in the first 2 films. I loved seeing the nurse from the 1st film, the voice over the clippings title sequence, and I feel that the teenagers carry their parts effectively.

Like Quint & Harry, I've met Josh (Jamie's film son). He came over to the house at around 6pm 4 or 5 times this spring staying until 3 or 4am each time, watching videos, film, and just shooting the shit. He came to Harry's sister's 17th Birthday party, sat in the grass of our backyard and watched 20 Betty Boop cartoons & 40 Horror trailers on 16mm, and he gave Dannie a really cooool present; but even if I had never met him I would have to say he is really good in this movie. Having raised 2 kids through their teenage years, a good part of those with an alcoholic wife, I can say that the tension the film lays between mother and son is to me both appropriate and very, very real.

Now, the natural tendency when you view sequels, or films in a series like Halloween is to compare them to the others, especially your favorites. Well, what I want to do here is put a little historic perspective on this bad habit of us film goers. 1st off, in NO long film series in the long history of film does the 7th in the run equal the 1st or 2nd in quality. It just doesn't happen. Does this make 7th films bad? No, it just makes them different.

Here are a few examples to illustrate my point. Historically there have been allot of very long and loved series. The Bowery Boys made 86 films in theirs. Charlie Chan, Blondie, Dr. Kildaire, Hopalong Cassidy, and Bulldog Drummond all made dozens in their series. Lets look at the 7th films in some of the most remembered movie runs. 1st, "Frankenstein", the classic Universal series, #7 is Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, a very funny movie, but nothing if compared to the 1931 original or it's even better sequel Bride of Frankenstein, it's like comparing apples and oranges. 2nd, "Dracula", the wonderful Hammer series with Chris Lee, #7 is 1973's Satanic Rites of Dracula, a very tired version when compared to 58's Horror of Dracula or even 68's Dracula has Risen from the Grave. 3rd, "Godzilla", that long lived Toho series loved by so many around the world. #7 here is Godzilla Vs. the Sea Monster (I think) from 1966 featuring a battle with a stupendous shrimp. Fun, but a real lobster, I mean loser if compared to King of the Monsters from 10 years earlier. 4th, "Pink Panther", the very funny Peter Sellers detective series. The #7 film here is Trail of the Pink Panther made in 1982 and once again if you compare it to the original it falls flat although there are some very funny moments when viewed on it's own.

You can see the trend. Even in short series this holds true. Many great series never even get to 7 installments. Karloff's fine "Mr. Wong", the adorable "Thin Man", and the kick-ass "Nightmare on Elm Street" all only made it to 6 installments, and these last efforts fall way short of the earlier efforts. Is Godfather 3 as good as the first two? Is Jedi? Is Superman III ? Or Poltergeist 3? Your answer is probably no to all 4. Does that make them bad movies? No, I think not.

Hey wait a minute you say, some 7th films are really better than earlier ones. I agree, and Halloween H2O is one of these. Let's continue our look at a few more 7th films. 5th, "Tarzan", the long lived MGM-RKO series, #7 is Tarzan Triumphs with an incongruous hero fighting the Nazi's along side a new, oneshot Jane, Frances Grifford. While it's no equal to 1932's entry and not even close to Tarzan and his Mate it does move up from its number seven spot to about fifth in quality for this series. 6th, "Sherlock Holmes"(he's been filmed more than any other fictional character), the great Fox-Universal series with the wonderful Basil Rathbone. The 7th one here is Sherlock Holmes and the Spiderwoman, and while it's no Hound of the Baskervilles it is easily the fourth best in the series right behind The Pearl of Death. Now for Michael's bloodbrother Jason. 7th, "Friday the Thirteenth", the series most like Halloween's. Well, #7 is Friday the Thirteenth New Blood , and I'll place it at 4th best in this series, but like all the rest of these films I've talked about it doesn't take over the top 2 spots.

So, despite my efforts to convince you and myself NOT to make comparisons to earlier films in a series I now find myself about to do just that. Oh, the agony! The humiliation! Well here goes. #8, "Halloween", #3 isn't even part of the series. #4 is pretty good. #5 & 6 slip away from the original storyline and become just mad slasher flicks. #2 is no original, but it is a direct true sequel, something lacking in most so called sequels in this age of sequels. #1 is a great, genre establishing, defining horror film that along with Texas Chainsaw Massacre & Night of the Living Dead is responsible for the look and feel that the Horror film has today. And #7 gets back on track with the original plotline, the execution is great with some genuinely tense, scary, shocking moments, and Jamie Lee is fantastic, she's out to meet her worse nightmare head-on and she doesn't disappoint us. #7 IS #3! I'm going to buy the tape when it comes out ,then the DVD, and I'm going to treat myself to many late night triple-features of the Halloween epic in the coming years.

Father Geek! Father Geek!!! You didn't address "James Bond" in your discussion of all those series. Well my fellow Geeks, you caught me. This one's difficult to fit into my 7th film layout, but here goes. Connery made 7 Bonds, #7 was Never Say Never Again, it's probably his worse. Moore made 7 Bonds, #7 was A View to a Kill, definitely not near his best effort. What about the overall series? Well, if you count all the Bonds including Casino Royale, then #7 is neither a Connery or a Moore, its On Her Majesty's Secret Service considered by many to be in a dead heat with From Russia With Love for the #1 spot. I personally rate Goldfinger the best though, and my best friend likes Thunderball the most, and Harry he li..... OK, enough is enough. I'm out of here, got to go see Snake Eyes. Go see H2O, it'll grab you by the ass, and it won't let go. Our group of six sat around a local cafe/bar raving about it for 2 1/2 hours.

Stay Cool,

Father Geek